


Trust Me

by 1DE3shipper



Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Avengers AU, Fluff, Light Angst, Pre-Slash, burn injury, maybe some mild violence, some language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-16
Updated: 2016-01-16
Packaged: 2018-05-09 14:17:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,127
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5543006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/1DE3shipper/pseuds/1DE3shipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An Avengers AU where Louis doesn't feel like part of the team, no matter how hard Liam seems to try to convince him otherwise, and it takes a mission gone wrong to convince him that maybe Liam does like him too.</p><p>Featuring Louis as Iron Man/Tony Stark, Liam as Captain America/Steve Rodgers, Zayn as the Hulk/Bruce Banner, Niall as Hawkeye/Clint Barton, and Harry as Black Widow/Natasha Romanov.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Trust Me

**Author's Note:**

  * For [EnkeliJaPerkele](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EnkeliJaPerkele/gifts).



> For EnkeliJaPerkele's prompt "AU: open to anything, supernatural elements. Totally open fot the writer to take control. It can be a Harry Potter world AU, a Super Heroes AU, a Horror AU, a Supernatural AU, a Fantasy AU, Disney AU... whatever floats your boat. The can be in One Direction or not." I'm a huge fan of Marvel, so I hope you enjoy this as much as I enjoyed writing this!
> 
> *if anyone isn't familiar with the Avengers and wants clarification on anything in here, feel free to leave a comment and hopefully I'll be able to answer when authors are revealed!

_Iron Man, come in Iron Man!  Are you there_?"

 

"Cool it, will you Cap?" Louis huffed, blasting his repulsers in the general direction of the attacking Hydra robot.  "I'm right here, no need to yell.  Not all of us have seventy year old ears."

 

" _There are civilians trapped in the corner building, I need you to get them clear of the downtown before we can explode the control center_ ," Captain America instructed, ignoring the dig.

 

"Rodger that," he agreed, changing directions towards where he could hear screaming.  He could hear Liam sigh through the comms, and knew the leader was rolling his eyes.  While the two were on better terms than they had been at first, Louis still got the feeling that the super soldier wasn't exactly his biggest fan–which really shouldn't bother him considering just how many people disliked him.  It did though.  It really did.

 

Overall it was a routine mission, just another former member of Hydra who thought he could take world domination into his own hands; nothing they hadn't dealt with a hundred times before.  That is, until Louis was taking one last sweep of a building to make sure it was clear.

 

" _Tommo, you need to get out of there.  The structure is starting to look a bit unstable and you don't want to be under that thing when it collapses_ ," Hawkeye warned from his station on top of the next building over.

 

"Relax, Legolas," Louis huffed, even though he could tell that the walls were starting to tremble, even without having to run any measurements.  "Just gotta check the lower level and we'll be good to go."

 

" _Not going to last that long, mate_ ," Niall argued at the same time Liam shouted, " _That's an order Tomlinson. Out of the building!_ "

 

Louis was about to snark back with something about exactly how long he can  _last_ when the ceiling began to crumble above him.

 

"Oh no," he mumbled to himself.  "Jarvis, repulsers on full blast, we've gotta get out of here."

 

" _Already done, Sir_ ," the artificial intelligence program responded as the suit rocketed itself upwards.  He had to break through a couple of walls, but before long he was greeted with the sight of blue sky and a very angry team leader.  

 

"Meet you back at the tower," Louis waved before taking off again, ignoring the commotion coming through the comms telling him to _get back here Tomlinson_.  He really wasn't in the mood for a lecture from Liam _fucking_  Payne today so he certainly wasn't going to give the super soldier the opportunity before even leaving the battle field.

 

The short flight home gave him the opportunity to think, which may or may not have been a good thing.  It wasn't like it was his fault that his first priority was saving as many civilians as possible rather than his own safety.  Wasn't that the entire point of being a superhero?  Besides, Liam would do the same thing in the position, any of them would, so him scolding Louis for it was incredibly hypocritical.  And he did survive.  Like, he was perfectly unharmed.  Nothing happened to him, so it shouldn't have been a big deal, but he knew Liam would find a way to make it into a big deal anyways.  Sometimes the man was even more infuriating than he was attractive, which was saying something.

 

The thing is though, it hurt Louis when Liam would look at him with disapproval, sent a weight to the pit of his stomach like the world was crashing down around him because _Captain America_ , the man who Louis spent his entire childhood looking up to, the man who saw the good in _everyone_ , thought he we was a bad person.  Or maybe not a bad person, but certainly not a very good one.

 

Louis couldn't blame him, to be honest.  Most of the time he didn't find himself to be a very good person either.

 

Once he landed, Louis made his way immediately down to his lab to get started on repairs for his suit.  He needed to be ready in case they were called out again and the left side had sustained some pretty significant damage.  He wasn't hiding.  Nope.  He was just taking advantage of uninterrupted work time.  Definitely not hiding.

 

Unfortunately, Louis didn't have too much time to himself before the noise of the quinjet could be heard overhead, signaling the arrival of the rest of the team.  The only hope he could hold onto was that Liam would be too tired to yell at him for now.

 

"Tomlinson!" Not too tired then.

 

Louis sighed and put down his screwdriver just as Captain America himself stormed into the workshop.  He had changed out of his uniform on the way over, apparently, into jeans and a solid colored button-up, tucked in, which would look absolutely ridiculous on anyone else but somehow ended up looking actually pretty hot on Liam.

 

"What seems to be the matter, Captain?" Louis asked smoothly, leaning back in his chair to give the idea that he was unaffected by being told off like a child.

 

"Don't even start with me Louis, you know why I'm pissed."

 

"Actually, I don't," Louis smirked, because this was where he shined, using his quick wit to bite back and hopefully fluster whoever he was arguing with enough to give himself the upper hand in any situation.  "Care to enlighten me?"

 

"I'm in charge here," Liam snapped.  "When I tell you to do something on the battle field, you do it, no questions asked.  If we all did what you did today, we'd all be _dead_.  There would be no Avengers.  Your job is to follow orders so we can work as a _team_."

 

"But you'd do the exact same thing, wouldn't you?" Louis argued.  He stood up from his chair to stand chest to chest with the much taller man.  "If there was a building about to collapse on a bunch of civilians, you would be in there too, no matter what anyone told you.  You've got no problem putting yourself in danger to save the day, but as soon as someone else tries, you get all high and mighty like you're the only one who can do no wrong.  Or, it's not just anyone, it's me.  It seems like I'm the only one who's not allowed to make decisions when things get critical. What gives Cap?"

 

"Maybe if you showed the ability to make better decisions, I wouldn't have to make them for you," Liam growled. "For god’s sake, Louis, you're the only one who would fly to the basement of a building as its crumbling down!  You're supposed to be a smart guy, can't you see where that could go wrong?  That sort of recklessness is _exactly_  the reason why the team can't trust you."

 

"The _team_?"  Louis laughed incredulously.  "Last I checked, you're the only one who's down here yelling at me for my reckless decision that ended up hurting absolutely _no one_.  You're the only one down here _every single time_.  Do you ever start to think that you could be the problem, Cap?"

 

Liam had no response for that, just stood there gaping for a moment, before regaining some of his composure, simply muttering, "My team, my rules," before turning on his heel and storming out the way he came in.

 

Louis shook his head and turned his attention back to the shoulder plate he was reshaping but he couldn't focus.  For some reason he felt a little bad for his outburst, though Liam had certainly deserved to be put in his place for once.  He wasn't reckless.  He carefully calculated every move he made out on the battlefield and sure, there was always the possibility that something unexpected occur, but it wasn't because he was being reckless.

 

Still, though, he can't help but feel like he may have taken it too far for some reason that he can't quite pinpoint–but really, he knows exactly why–and he doesn't like it one bit.

\-------

Louis didn't rejoin the team upstairs that night, or the next day, or the next.  He still felt a bit uneasy about his and Liam's interaction and didn't really know how to reinsert himself without making a scene.

 

Zayn came down to find him the third night when Louis was nearly delirious with caffeine and lack of sleep and head deep in some random project that he probably couldn't even explain if asked.

 

"Alright what did you do?" Zayn got straight to the point when the doors opened to allow him entry.  Louis really needed to change the restriction codes or else pretty soon everyone would be coming down to his safe haven to interrogate him.

 

"Why do you automatically assume I did something?" Louis tried to sound offended, but based on previous events the doctor probably was justified in jumping to that conclusion.  At least, he was whenever things in the lab exploded.

 

"Because Liam has been moping around like a kicked puppy ever since you two talked."

 

"Liam always looks like a kicked puppy," Louis argued, looking back at the mess of wire and metal in front of him and wondering what exactly he was doing before deciding to screw it and continue tinkering anyways.

 

" _Louis_ ," Zayn pressed, pinching the bridge of his nose like he was getting a migraine.  Louis couldn’t blame him, with this team.  It was honestly incredible that the doctor didn’t turn into the Hulk more often just out of sheer frustration.

 

"What do you want me to say?" Louis asked.  "We fought like we always do, he was being unfair like he always is, and I haven't seen him since, so you tell me what's his problem."

 

"Yeah, and he always gets mopey when you fight, so fix it," Zayn instructed, before looking around and taking in the mess that was the workshop.  "And while you’re at it, you might want to clean this place up a bit.  And maybe eat some actual food? And sleep in an actual bed? Just a thought."  And with that, he turned around and was gone. 

 

Louis crashed his head forward onto the table with a groan, and winced when his head hit the metal.  He probably should get some sleep, he mused. And now that he thought about it, he was kind of hungry.  Cleanup could wait for another day, so with one last look around, he turned off the lights and entered the elevator to take him up to the common floor in the desperate hope that he wouldn’t run into anyone.  One interrogation was enough for one night.

\-------

Unfortunately, Harry was in the kitchen when he got there, reading the newspaper and nursing a cup of coffee.  The agent didn't look up when Louis entered, but he knew he heard him.  At least he was the only one.  Louis _definitely_  wasn’t in the mood for another run in with Steve.

 

But, food.  More important.

A look in the fridge told him that anything healthy would take entirely too much effort, so he pulled out the jug of milk for a bowl of cereal.  It wasn't until he had sat down and was getting ready to eat that Harry dropped the paper and looked him in the eye.  He didn't say anything, just held his gaze unnervingly for longer than Louis could count before standing up and emptying his cup in the sink.  Louis thought he was off the hook when Harry made his way to the elevator, but the agent stopped before the doors opened and turned back to Louis with a serious expression.

 

"You two are both idiots," he said, cracking a fond smile at the last moment before stepping into the elevator and instructing Jarvis to take him to his floor.

 

Louis had literally no idea what he was talking about and was too tired to think about it so he quickly finished his cereal before heading straight to his floor to sleep forever.  Or at least until tomorrow.

\-------

He got a pretty solid five hours, as it turned out, which wasn't too bad for him, so he took it as a victory and headed back down to see what he was even working on last night.

 

Except when he got down there, Liam was already waiting for him.

 

"Can I help you?" he tried stepping around the super soldier but Liam wasn't having it and just stood in his way.  

 

"We need to talk."

 

"Hate to break it to you Spangles," Louis this time was successful in getting around Liam's larger frame to get to his workbench, "but we already tried that, remember?  And if you recall, it didn't go so well, so I don't think us talking would be in anyone's best interest."

 

"Which is exactly why we need to talk," Liam seemed nervous, or at least a bit embarrassed, shuffling his feet against the floor.  "I...I'm sorry Louis."  And that wasn't what Louis was expecting at all.  "You're right, I haven't been fair to you, and I know that you have the team's best interests in mind too.  I just...I don't think I could take losing a team member and you just worry me sometimes.  But you're a grown man and you know the risks, otherwise you wouldn't take them and I'm just...I'm sorry for how I treated you."

 

Now Louis was the one who was speechless.  Captain America doesn't apologize.   _Especially_  not to Louis.  There's never a need because he's America's hero; he doesn't do anything wrong.  And it was Louis who had blown up the other day, so it's not like Liam was even really at fault.

 

"I...you...what?" was all he could stammer, mouth gaping and eyes wide.

 

"I said I'm sorry," Liam repeated, stronger this time.  "We're on the same team, we need to trust each other.  And I do trust you, Louis."

 

"I...okay?" Louis said but it sounded more like a question because he still couldn't wrap his head around the fact that Liam was being so nice to him.

 

"Yeah," Liam trailed off.  "I'll just...leave you to it I suppose."

 

"Yeah," Louis answered, still a bit dazed.

 

"Yeah," Liam repeated, slowly retreating towards the elevator, leaving Louis beyond confused as to what just happened.

\-------

"Tommo, you coming up for dinner tonight?" Niall called from where he was wandering in the vents.  

 

Louis sighed and looked at the holographic screen in front of him.  He hadn't really made much progress in the last hour, which was usually a sign that he should take a break.  He also hadn't consumed anything but coffee in the last twenty eight hours so if he didn’t get up soon Jarvis would lock him out.

 

"I guess," he called towards the ceiling, because Niall could literally be anywhere and if he didn't get the message then at least Jarvis would.  After saving his work, Louis made his way over to the elevator to take him to the common floor.

 

Everyone else was already there–including Niall–working together to bring the food from the kitchen to the table and not for the first time Louis wished he could bring himself to be more a part of this team, this family.  Sure, they all lived together, but more often than not Louis found himself isolated whenever they weren't directly working together.  Part of that was his fault for always avoiding their group bonding activities, but truthfully he was scared.  He didn't _know_  how to involve himself and he really didn't know if they even wanted him involved.  So he kept his distance.

 

"Louis!" Liam greeted him with a grin that caught Louis off guard.  "You're just in time!  Haz made chicken and green beans if that's alright?  Sit wherever."

 

"You're acting like I'm a guest or something," Louis huffed, pulling out a chair next to a place setting. "Technically this is my house.  Which makes me a terrible host, so please continue."

 

Liam’s grin didn't fade at all, in fact he may have giggled the slightest bit–Louis for the life of him doesn't know why–before sitting at the place directly across from Louis.  The rest of the team kept steady conversation flowing throughout the meal, but Louis couldn't figure out how to insert himself so he just stayed quiet, probably for the first time in his life.  This was so much different from interacting with the team on the battlefield.  That was _work_ ; this friendly setting threw him for a loop.  

 

Which was weird, because typically Louis was the master at charming a room, no matter who was in it.  He could perform in front of any crowd, could persuade anyone to see his way, could sweet talk every girl or guy into bed with him.  What was so different about this?

 

The obvious answer was that he really cared about this team.  At business meetings, Louis couldn't care less what people actually think of him as long as they invest in his company, but his teammates were around him every day.  They should know him the best and if they didn't like him, what did that say about Louis? 

 

Not to mention the fact that Liam made him nervous, plain and simple.  It was usually hit or miss with Louis’s ability to communicate clearly in the presence of the Captain, more often than not a very bad miss when they weren’t arguing.  Just having Liam around rendered him unable to talk to the rest of the team, as juvenile as that sounded.

 

He was shaken from his thoughts when the entire table laughed in unison.  Louis looked up to see Niall looking entirely too pleased himself while the others looked on fondly and he just couldn't take it anymore.  He picked up his plate without a word and disappeared back into his workshop before anyone even noticed he was gone.  It was better this way.

\-------

Louis would have liked to say that everything went back to normal after that, but that would be a lie.  Not an hour after he retreated to his lab that night, Liam followed him down with a book and sat quietly reading in a chair off to the side until he ushered Louis up to bed a little after midnight.

 

To say Louis was confused would be an understatement, but he ignored it at first.  Then it happened the next day and the next.  Every evening after dinner, whether Louis joined them or not, Liam would make his way down to the workshop and just sit quietly reading or drawing or watching Louis work.  Sometimes he would ask questions, as if he was genuinely interested in whatever Louis was building, and Louis would hesitantly answer because he kept waiting for someone to jump out and say that this is all a joke and Captain America really wanted nothing to do with him.

 

That didn't happen though, and soon they started hanging out outside of the workshop.  Liam would persuade him to join the team movie nights (he wasn't even aware _existed_ ) which he accepted on the condition that chick-flics were banned (to Harry's protest) and found himself curled up on the couch with his head on Liam's shoulder and the larger man's hand in his hair.  Louis would insist on taking Liam out to dinner sometimes, because the Captain mentioned that he had never tried sushi, so it became Louis's mission to make sure Liam had tried every restaurant in New York.  

 

Harry and Niall would sent them pointed winks and grins every time, while Zayn just rolled his eyes fondly. Louis thought his team was weird.

 

He didn't get why Liam was so interested in spending time with him to begin with, but he was going to take advantage of it as much as he could, of for nothing but his owns selfish reasons.  Objectively speaking he knew Liam was attractive obviously, and Captain America had been the object of many of his teenage fantasies, so who was he to pass up such an opportunity?  He found himself very lucky that Liam Payne even gave him the time of day.  Over time, though, Louis knew that whatever he had been feeling towards the team leader was changing and he wasn’t really sure what to make of that.  Because Liam wasn’t just a pretty face, he treated Louis like a friend, like he genuinely cared, and that was something Louis had been missing for quite some time.  He kept waiting for Liam to tire of him and go back to only interacting when strictly necessary for the team, but that still hadn’t happened and Louis found himself falling deeper and deeper for the Captain with the feeble hope that maybe Liam actually liked him too.

 

"You shouldn't have to pay every time," Liam protested when they were sitting at one of Louis's favorite Italian places one night.

 

Louis just laughed because "Liam I could literally buy this entire restaurant and not blink an eye.  Paying for dinner really isn't that big of a deal."

 

"It's the principle through," Liam argued.  "You deserve to have someone buy you dinner every once in a while."  

 

Louis was so stunned that he hardly noticed Liam taking the check with a smile that didn't even look smug and paying with a couple crumpled twenty dollar bills.

\-------

Louis should have known that peace wouldn't last forever.  It had been almost a month since they were last called out, so they were due for an attack somewhere.  This one happened to be in South America (Louis never understood how the invaders picked these places) so at the sound of the alarm, they were off.

 

Louis flew ahead in his suit to survey the problem and report back what they were dealing with.  He did a scan of the area and found unusual readings of metal covering nearly the entire town. And they were robots.  

 

Awesome.

 

"This could be fun," he muttered into the comms, explaining the situation as best as he could tell from the air.

 

" _Do you think we have anything for them?_ " Harry responded as the got closer.

 

"Yeah," Louis decided, swooping down to fire his repulsers at the closest two robots.  "I think we've got this handled."

 

It turned out to be more difficult that they would have expected, and it became apparent that _something_  was controlling all these robots.  The problem was finding the source.  Louis continued through the air, running all sorts of scans and equations in an attempt to pick up any sort of unusual activity that could signify any sort of home base.

 

" _Tommo, check that bunker over there_ ," Niall suggested from his perch at the top of one of the houses. 

 

"On it," Louis confirmed, flying in that direction, taking out as many robots as he could in the process.  The thing that really got him was the lack of life forms anywhere near them.  The town looked long abandoned and was surrounded by mountains, no other civilization for miles.  Clearly this was just an attempt to draw the Avengers here, but by whom?

 

Suddenly there was all sorts of beeping from inside his helmet.

 

" _Sir, there does seem to be some type of signal radiating from that bunker_ ," Jarvis informed him.

 

"Thanks buddy," Louis nodded.  "Gonna go check it out," he informed the rest of the team.

 

" _Louis, are you sure?_ " Harry asked, still fighting off robots on the ground.

 

"Someone's gotta do it," Louis reasoned.  "Might as well be me, since I can fly.  I know the risks," he added before Liam could interrupt.  "Could be nothing after all, anyways.  I'll keep you updated."

 

" _Be safe_ ," Liam instructed seriously.

 

Louis wanted to retort with something sarcastic, but Liam sounded so sincerely concerned that all he could say was "always am" before accelerating towards the bunker.

 

The bunker, as it turned out, was essentially a large pile of dirt with a small entrance behind it.  Louis had a bad feeling about it, but he needed to get down there and that was the only way in, so he landed and carefully walked the armor into the cavern.  It was dark, but the suit gave him the ability to see where he was going without drawing attention to himself.  After taking a few twists, likely leading him farther underground, the tunnel opened up to a room with something that resembled an antenna.  Jarvis's scans indicated that this was in fact where the signal for the robots originated, with no indication of who was actually behind it.  

 

It really couldn't be this simple, Louis thought, approaching the object.  It looked like alien tech, so it probably wasn't that simple, but he really couldn't think of what else to do: destroy the transmitter and the robots would be powerless.

 

He poked it experimentally and nothing happened.  His armor didn't melt, no alarm sounded, there was no barrier around the antenna, nothing.  Addressing the rest of the team in the comms, Louis said, "found the transmitter.  It's pretty far underground but there's nothing guarding it, and it seems like I just need to deactivate it and the robots are kaput.  Sound good to everyone?" 

 

" _It can't be that simple_ ," Liam argued, seemingly to himself.  " _There has to be something else, like a trap._ "

 

"Only one way to find out," Louis shrugged.

 

" _Wait for backup_ ," Liam instructed.  " _Someone else will come down to check it out with you before you proceed._ "

 

"If it is a trap, we don't want more than one of us down here, because there's no way any of you would get out in time, except maybe the Hulk, which no offence, Zaynie, wouldn't be too helpful anyways.  I need to take the chance while you guys are at a safe distance."

 

" _Louis..._ " Liam protested.

 

"Liam.  Do you trust me?" Louis asked seriously.

 

He heard Liam take a deep breath over the comms before answering, " _I do.  Now do what you need to do and I'll see you when you get out._ "  He clearly didn’t want to consider the alternative.

 

Louis nodded even though Liam couldn't see him.  "There's a really nice Mexican place I want to take you to tonight, sound good?"

 

" _Seven o'clock.  See you then._ "

 

" _Stop wasting time.  And stop involving us in your disgusting love lives_ ," Niall complained.

 

"Alright, I'm gonna blast it in three...two...one...now!"  Louis braced himself as he fired his repulser at the transmitter and leapt backwards upon impact.  Nothing happened for a moment, then the entire room went up in flames as the device exploded.

 

" _Shit_ ," Louis exclaimed.  All he could feel was intense heat everywhere.  The fire heated his suit causing it to burn his skin and he barely had the presence of mind to activate the thrusters under his feet before the pain became too overwhelming.  The last thing he remembered was Jarvis taking over to steer towards the tunnel he came from before Louis blacked out completely.

\-------

" _Louis...Louis!_ "

 

" _He's not waking up...Zayn he's not waking up!_ "

 

" _Someone call SHEILD medical!_ "

 

" _Hold on guys, give him some space..._ "

 

" _Louis! C'mon wake up please..._ "

 

" _Is he even breathing..._ "

 

" _Everyone just give him some space!_ "

 

" _Louis!_ "

\-------

Next Louis was aware of, he was slowly blinking awake to the sound of beeping machines and soft voices.  There was a gentle pressure on his hand, as if someone was holding it.  When he opened his eyes, the voices quieted down and Louis could feel everyone watching him.

 

"Ah..." he tried to speak, but his throat was dry and the words couldn't form.

 

"Shh," a person soothed from next to him–probably the same person holding his hand–and a glass of water appeared in front of his lips.  He sipped slowly through the straw until his throat didn't feel so raw and breathing came easier.

 

"Wha...?" he tried again, with only slight success before someone put their hand over his mouth.

 

"Don't worry about speaking," someone–Liam–said from his bedside.  "You just need to rest.  Gave us a bit of a scare there.  You were lucky, Louis."

 

It was coming back in bits and pieces, now.  Louis remembered the mission, and the bunker, and the entire cavern alight around him, and the first thing he could think to ask was, "Be honest...how bad do I look?"

 

Liam gaped at him for a moment before throwing his head back in laughter.  "Only you would wake up in the hospital and be worried about your face."

 

"You didn't answer the question, Louis mumbled.

 

"You look gorgeous as always, Lou," Liam said fondly, which Louis returned with a grin.  "We're gonna have to rain check that date, I guess, give you time to recover.  You're not getting out of here for a couple of days."

 

Louis pouted.  "But I'm fiiiiiineee."

 

"You're actually about as far from fine as you could be Louis.  Sorry," Zayn interjected from across the room where apparently he, with Harry and Niall, had been standing the entire time.  "Your arms got the worst of the burns, but you've got splotches all along your torso as well.  Your face isn't too bad, luckily for you.  That should be healed in a day or so.  You're on a pretty crazy amount of painkillers right now, which is why you can't feel anything."

 

"Huh," was all Louis said, lifting his right arm to observe the damage.  Okay, so it was pretty bad.  "Did I at least save the day?" he asked with a cheeky grin.

 

"Hell yeah you did!" Niall exclaimed.  "All we heard was this loud BOOM and suddenly all the robots had fallen over dead!"

 

"It was so scary though," Liam admitted.  "I guess you had just enough power for Jarvis to get you out of there, because as soon as you cleared the bunker you just fell right back down.  I thought you were _dead_ " he trailed off to a whisper at the end.  Louis reached out to take his hand again and gave it a squeeze.

 

"I'm okay, yeah?" he said gently.  "Told you I would be.  Unless the burn scars are a deal breaker for you."

 

"Of course not!" Liam responded, and while Louis had been mostly kidding, his self-consciousness about his injuries was soothed a little bit with Liam's confirmation.  He didn't really think Liam would be that shallow, but it was nice to hear anyways.  "I'd still like to go out with you, like, when you're better.  If...that's what you still want?" He gave a shy grin that made Louis heart skip in his chest.

 

"Yeah, Liam," he returned with a smile of his own.  "That sounds really good."


End file.
